AOTY 2023
Slipknot - Iowa
Critic Score
Based on 9 reviews
2001 Ratings: #176 / 236
User Score
2001 Ratings: #68
Liked by 272 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

80
NME
And if their world revolves around them and their paranoia, it’s because they’ve constructed it to do just that. Like the art of the insane, every possible space is covered in scrawl and cymbals: guitars, percussion, electronic squall, subhuman screaming, Ross Robinson’s production ensuring the music lets no light in, that you can never quite see round the edges.
80
Sputnikmusic
In many ways it’s still the basic Slipknot formula that has been presented before but interestingly has the inclusion of darker themes and more aggressive/violent/dark lyrical context combined with a slightly more mature writing style which in turn lifts the quality of the album.
80
Rolling Stone

With Iowa, Slipknot go to the head of the slag heap, the new kings of extreme. They may wear clown masks, but they're no bozos.

80
Q Magazine
Slipknot make one hell of a racket, an abrasive amalgam of death metal blastbeats and bestial grunting.
75
Drowned in Sound
So after all is said and done and the hype has settled we are left with a very good release from an exceptional band. ‘Iowa’ is everything that could be expected from the band and a whole handful more. Prepare for the explosion all over again.
70
Alternative Press
Things reach such a fever pitch on this album that you can't help but laugh at times.
60
AllMusic

Though not quite as commercially viable as the more straightforward Slipknot album, Iowa is a more interesting listen, one that envelopes you in its American Gothic shadow and leaves you feeling unsettled afterward.

43
Entertainment Weekly
It’s an almost unrelentingly brutal disc that, like so much of the nü metal, often seems like a parody of itself. Slipknot’s shtick is to posit themselves as the most violent, depraved, angst-ridden young malcontents on the block — the sickest of the sick.
20
The Guardian
Their actual sound is so far down their list of priorities that there is little point in them making records. Slipknot are on a mission to shock: in fairness, they succeed admirably, if only in being shockingly dull. Their percussive thrash metal half-heartedly evokes Sepultura at their most upset with Slayer's adrenaline rush.
ThePurpleIdiot
100

PEOPLE EQUAL SHIT!!! PEOPLE EQUAL SHIT!!! PEOPLE EQUAL SHIT!!! PEOPLE EQUAL SHIT!!!

Talk about heavy and dark, because holy fucking shit! Man, when I first heard this album, it absolutely blew my mind. It was so original and fresh to me, yet also nostalgic and recognizable for me at the same time. Why’s that? Well, just like many other metal albums and bands, my parents and other family played their music hugely. Especially this album, and “Slipknot”, the group’s ... read more

TemporaryWorm
94

Alternate title: Corey Taylor does not like other human beings.

CLJesse
78

Wow ladies and gentlemen, we did it. I gave a second nu metal album a positive score. I can now have my metalhead title revokes and be drawn and quartered like the loser I am.

SLT
88

This old slipknot was so good with all the yelling. Though the last track did NOT need to be there…

andrewslistenin
87

If this is nu-metal, it's the best nu-metal album next to Deftones' White Pony. If this isn't nu-metal, then this is just really fucking good death metal.

feiticeira
65

they need to chill for a second so that the music actually hits, many slipknot songs are fundamentally flawed in this way imo

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Track List

1(515)
0:59
71
2People = Shit
3:35
94
3Disasterpiece
5:08
93
4My Plague
3:39
89
5Everything Ends
4:13
87
6The Heretic Anthem
4:13
91
7Gently
4:53
86
8Left Behind
4:00
90
9The Shape
3:37
86
10I Am Hated
2:37
81
11Skin Ticket
6:40
86
12New Abortion
3:36
82
13Metabolic
3:59
85
14Iowa
15:02
86
Total Length: 1 hour, 6 minutes

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Added on: April 14, 2013